Take This Pain Away

Hello everyone! This is my first story on , I write a lot myself but thought I was too crappy to post it.

But since i'm going to study Journalism anyway (in the Netherlands that is) I thought, ah screw it.

So don't be too harsh on me, I don't mind constructive critism but don't flame only.

Thanks in advance

~ Jourii

PS: I'm not sure whether to continue this or stop. It all depends on the reviews I get from you guys.

Aang was really, really worried about the girl he loved so much.

He knew she could take care of herself but still.

Ever since he wake up from the coma he had been in for 3 weeks she was a little off.

He couldn't quite place a finger on the exact thing that was wrong but he just knew something was bothering her. Although some problems should be solved alone, he of all people knew you needed friends more than ever when you're facing some serious problems.

He finally got up and put on his disguise, since they were in the fire nation now they all had to wear them. When he stood outside his eyes had to adjust to the bright light first, after he had adjusted his sight he saw Katara sitting outside the camping site. She was near the small creak that flowed all the way to the lake. She lifted her arms, as she did this two small streams of water rose upwards out of the creak. As she brought her hands back together the two streams together formed a ball of water.

Aang just sat down and continued observing Katara waterbending. It always gave him so much rest, it was almost as good as meditating. Katara suddenly jacked one hand upwards to the sky and one hand to the side. What followed made Aang gasp in shock. A wave came out of the motions. That shouldn't be too difficult and enhancing but the fact that it was all in the plain air and not happening in the creak itself made Aang smile widely. He stood up and just applauded, he always was amazed at how easily his former waterbending teacher invented some new tricks like she had been doing this for years and years on end. She let out a small cry and turned around. The appearance of Aang shouldn't surprise her really. Normally he would be long awake by the time she got up. "That was amazing Katara!" Aang complemented her. Although it was not uncommon for Aang to give her compliments she had to blush everytime it happened. "Thanks Aang". She walked towards Aang and gave him a big hug.
He happily embraced her, taking in the scent of her hair. Oh, he'd love to just brush his hands through her hair but he knew he couldn't do that. When he wanted to break away from the hug she just held him tight like she was afraid of losing him. Aang didn't mind at all but his curious mind took over.

"Mmh?" Was all he could say. "Can't we just stay like this for a while, Aang?"

"Sure!" He said, nodding his head furiously. He tried not to sound too happy about it but he didn't really care. After a good five minutes the two finally broke apart.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Katara said, as Aang shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe we should head to town to buy ourselves some groceries, we're running out of food." Aang suggested. He looked at Katara, but her mind was already set on the idea.

"Okay Let's go!" Katara said and grabbed his hand and tugged him along.

Aang, too happy to object, ran along as Katara hurried to the town.

"Slow down, Slow down. Katara" Aang pleaded, he didn't mind to run but his back still ached from the wound that Azula had caused. He wasn't up to his old standards just yet.

"Don't be such a grumpy!" Katara said with a fake mocking tone. Only when she felt his hand slip away, she looked around. He sat on a rock leaning forward. When Katara reached out to pat his cheek he looked up. She saw the hurt expression in his eyes, she now knew he wasn't joking when he said slow down. "I'm sorry Aang! We can take a break if you want." Katara softly said to him. All of a sudden she felt really ashamed for hurting Aang. She turned around to walk away from him, afraid to cause more pain when his hand grabbed her wrist preventing from walking any further. She looked in his eyes and he saw those gray orbs. "Katara, just sit next to me please." Aang said, hoping she wouldn't just walk away. Katara slowly said down next to him. She looked away, as she tried her hardest not to have eye contact with him. "Please." Was all he said, and that was all it took for her to look in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry Aang" As she said that she cried a little.

- flashback-

"Katara?" Aang had asked during one of their healing sessions.

"Yes Aang?" Katara responded, never ending her healing touch to his bare back. She was lightly tracing her hands in circles around the spot where the lightning had struck him.

It was a really big and gaping wound, she had to use every single bit of her expertise on healing to even heal the tiniest bit. This was her biggest challenge yet.

"Is something wrong? You seem a little distracted lately." Aang asked her, she could hear he was worrying over her. And although something was bothering her, she wouldn't show it.

"No, nothing's wrong" Katara responded. Aang raised an eyebrow on her remark because although he didn't had the ability like Toph to sense if people were lying but you didn't need any fancy eartbending techniques to figure out that she wasn't telling the truth.

"You know you can talk to me. If somethings wrong you can always tell me and maybe we can figure it out together." Aang sounded more and more concerned every second. She sometimes hated the fact that the monk could her emotions and expressions like a book. Sometimes she wished he would just try not to care so much, but she guessed it was his nature. Always the friendly, helping Avatar.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine by me. But if you talk about it it could help a lot."

Aang always knew how to say the right thing. The boy, who acted more like a real man every day, was facing away from Katara but he still managed to reach out with his hand behind his back and affectionately stroked her hair. Maybe this would cheer her up he thought to himself.

Katara suddenly gasped at the sudden touch of his cold hand lost her concentration of the healing water, as a result all of the water splashed onto his bare back and some of it landed on his toned chest.

Aang, surprised with the sudden feeling of cold water, yelped upwards.

Due to this heavy sudden movement his wound re-opened again.

He screamed as the infuriating pain engulfed his body once again. As he leaned forward ,screaming it out in pain, he settled his hands on the bench before him preventing him from passing out.

"Oh my god Aang!" Katara shouted, her voice filled with shame, sadness and regret. She just sat there, as she was made of stone. Her fingers were trembling with fear and tears already started to form in her eyes as she realized that this was her mistake.

"Are you alright? I didn't mean to do that!" As she said that she waterbended the water with one swift movement of her hands from the floor back into the cup she normally used for healing sessions to keep the water in. She suddenly saw that fresh new blood was slowly pouring out of his wound. She quickly left the tent to find some towels or anything she could use to suck up the blood. After 10 seconds, which felt like an eternity to Katara because she knew her best friend was suffering from an immense pain back in the place where she had left him, she found some towels and some washing cloths. It was not much but she decided it had to be sufficient. As long as she could stop his wound from opening entirely she wouldn't need as many towels as she had need the first couple of weeks when he was in coma.

She quickly grabbed them all in her left arm and took a bucket from her own tent and quickly poured some water in it and headed towards Aang.

She was only gone for 1 minute but what worried her was that after about 30 seconds, she stopped hearing his screams. She only ran faster and nearly tripped into the tent. As she kneeled down behind Aang she immediately started to clean the blood. On the floor was a small puddle of blood, she washed it away with some water from the bucket and then dried it with a towel. After that she did the same for his back but she was sure not to touch the wound. When his back was decently cleaned she gently patted his wound with the washing cloth trying to get rid of the excessive blood that was pouring out.

Meanwhile, Aang felt like he was being ripped apart, fixed, and then being ripped apart yet again.

The pain was so excruciating that he just wished to pass out but it was too intense.

Suddenly he felt the soothing but at the same time frightening cold touch of the healing water. For a couple of seconds he felt like he had no pain at all. But then it came back as painful as ever.

He tried to say something but no words came out. Katara was whispering soft soothing words in his right ear, if it weren't for the situation he was in now he would be blushing, but not now. Katara was yet again moving her hands over his wound with her healing touch, she hoped he would be okay yet again. After several minutes of continuing this pattern Katara noticed he was zoned out.

Aang noticed that the room around him began fading away, he felt like he was slowly drifting in nothingness. He could vaguely make out the contours of a feminine person, obviously Katara, staring deep in his eyes. She was sobbing , he reached out with his hand to brush her tears away but halfway his hand just lost the strength to finish the gesture. Katara talked to him but he couldn't tell what she was saying. She slowly stroke his hair while she continued the healing with one hand.

After a couple of minutes in this situation , The brain of the young airbender finally got the message that Aang wasn't going to be able to do anything but sleeping for now. As he reluctantly closed his eyes, he finally drifted off in a unsteady but relieving sleep.

Leaving an extremely terrified and sobbing young girl behind, widely awake.

-present-

They sat on the rock for several minutes, neither one of them wanting or having the need to talk.

Finally Aang got up and took her hand in his. "Ready to go to town?"

Katara just sighed and stood up as well. She just hoped she could tell him the thing that was bothering her so much soon. Otherwise she would lose her mind.

Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed it!

And don't forget to review please, it helps me a lot.